Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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If the name "Mr.Van Gogh" from an alleged Dutch Lottery, "NL National Lotto/International Promotions" isn't cliche' enough to tell you that thi sis a scam, they we can only assume that you aren't an art lover.
This is a very simple scam. They claim you won a promotion, which is giving away millions of dollars based on a randomly selected email address. The scam is obvious: it's simply preposterous to think that any company would randomly give away money to encourage you to buy lottery tickets. That would be self-defeating.
Although the most important clue is that no legitimate lottery, and almost no legitimate sweepstakes or promotions will email a winner, there are many other signs that this is a fraud. We have highlighted some of these in the email below, not the least of which are:
Email address ballot: There is no such thing as a "computer ballot system" or "computer email draw". No one, not even Microsoft has a database of email addresses of the type or magnitude they suggest.
Terrible spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar - Scammers apparently don't know how to use spell checkers. We assume they dropped out of school before that class. They use almost excessive and random CapItaLiZAtion. They often can't even spell "February" or know that "22th" ought to be "22nd". These scammers usually write at the 3rd grade level. Being non-native English speakers, they also often get first names and surnames (last names reversed), so you will frequently see names like "Mr. SMITH JAMES.", instead of "Mr. James Smith", along with the peculiar usage of periods (full stops) and spaces or the lack thereof.
Using free email account: The scammer is writing to you from a FREE email account (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.). Don't you think a real organization would use its own email, its own domain and website? Wouldn't they want to promote that?
What are they promoting? No one promotes "world peace" or "use of the internet" by handing out millions to random strangers. And if they are promoting a product, then this must be the world's worst promotion, because no one has heard of it, outside of the email you just received.
Pay a fee to collect the prize: Nope, it is illegal for free sweepstakes and promotions to charge you ANYTHING! Of course, in a scam, that is the whole point: to get you to send money to the scammer.
It is a typical scam sweepstakes winning notification. Also see these pages:
2007 LOTTERY PRIZE AWARD DEPT
Company, attached to:
REFERENCE No: ASL- WF97 - 2G3
BATCH No: OX7T - 6T5T - N3NWe are pleased to notify you of the release today as dated of the NL National Lotto/International Promotions programs held on the 22th day of febuary 2007. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 98,000 names from Europe, America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle-East, Africa, North & South America and canada as part of our international promotions program conducted annually to encourage prospective overseas entries. We hope with part of your prize awards, you will take part in our end of year lotto jackpot of 1.3 Billion International Lotto.
As a category B winner, you have been selected by computer balloting system where only email addresses are soughted, from a total numbers of 30,000 email addresses drawn from all over the globe. After an automated computer ballot of our International Promotions Program consequently won in the second Category. You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out of US$2,000,000.00 in cash, which is the winning payout for second categories winners. This is from the total prize money of US$45,000,000.00 shared among the eight international win! ners in the SECOND category.
CONTACT PERSON
Mr.Van Gogh
E-mail: nlonlinedraw_2007@yahoo.com.hk
Tel:+31 613 606 548
Fax: 318 474 54671Your are advice to provide him with the following bellow?
1.Full Name:____________________
2.Address:______________________
3.Nationality:____________________
4.Age:______________________________
5.Occupation:____________________
6.Phone:________________________
7.State of Origin:_________________
8.Country:______________________
Yours Sincerely,
Angela Jones.
2007 LOTTERY PRIZE AWARD DEPT
Company, attached to:
REFERENCE No: ASL- WF97 - 2G3
BATCH No: OX7T - 6T5T - N3NWe are pleased to notify you of the release today as dated of the NL National Lotto/International Promotions programs held on the 3rd day of april 2007. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 98,000 names from Europe, America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle-East, Africa,North & South America and canada as part of our international promotions program conducted annually to encourage prospective overseas entries. We hope with part of your prize awards, you will take part in our end of year lotto jackpot of 1.3 Billion International Lotto.
As a category B winner, you have been selected by computer balloting system where only email addresses are soughted, from a total numbers of 30,000 email addresses drawn from all over the globe. After an automated computer ballot of our International Promotions Program consequently won in the second Category. You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out of US$2,000,000.00 in cash, which is the winning payout for second categories winners. This is from the total prize money of US$45,000,000.00 shared among the eight international win! ners in the SECOND category.
CONTACT PERSON
Mr van gogh
E-mail: mrvangogh232@yahoo.com.hk
TEL: +31 644 863 856
FAX: +31 205 248 266Your are advise to provide him with the following below?
1.Full Name:________________
2.Address:__________________
3.Nationality:______________
4.Age: ____________________
5.Occupation:_______________
6.Phone:__________________
7.State: _________________
8.Country:________________
Click here for the huge list of the names of the currently identified lottery scams companies
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